The Regent’s Shadow cover art

The Regent’s Shadow

Watchers of the Throne: Warhammer 40,000, Book 2

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Regent’s Shadow

By: Chris Wraight
Narrated by: John Banks, Emma Gregory, Penelope Rawlins
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $36.99

Buy Now for $36.99

About this listen

Book 2 in the Watchers of the Throne series

A new day has dawned for the Imperium, but not everyone sees the light. The Custodian Guard and Sisters of Silence must battle not just Chaos, but those who do not share Regent Guilliman's vision....

Listen to it because:

See how enemies lurk everywhere in the Imperium - even on Terra itself - and discover how the Adeptus Custodes excel at rooting out the darkness that lurks on the Throneworld and bringing it to light.

The story:

As Guilliman, Regent of Terra, heads off to lead the Indomitus Crusade, he leaves behind a world still in turmoil, beset by cult activity. Stripped of its huge armies for the galactic offensive, recovery is precarious. The Custodians do what they can while keeping the Palace secure, and the Sisters of Silence rebuild their citadel on Luna. When the warship Phalanx returns, it seems that stability will at last be assured. However, as reconquest forces push out further into the slums, they come across signs that another mysterious foe is active. The truth dawns - not every enemy is corrupted by Chaos, for there are many on Terra who do not share Guilliman’s vision of a new order, and the prospect of a Terran civil war looms...

Written by Chris Wraight

Running time 11 hours 52 minutes. Performed by John Banks, Emma Gregory and Penelope Rawlins.

©2020 Games Workshop Limited (P)2020 Games Workshop Limited Epic Fantasy Science Fiction Space Opera
All stars
Most relevant  
Great and conveying the power vacuum left on terra, some bits are slow though

a power vacuum and regime change, shown in detail

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Chris Wraight showing off his literary chops again with a story that feels well fleshed out and a cast of characters well believable to be living in this setting he has created for humanity's homeworld.

I hope John Banks is ok because he certainly hurt his back carrying his other voice actors as hard as what he did.
Hes got a great vocal range and very competent in bring the emotion of the scene into his parts, phenomenal.
This is contrasted heavily by Rawlins and Gregory who, while decent in their POV characters just drop the ball when having to deliver lines as Roboute, Valoris or any character they can't use their main accent. In addition their attempts to voice pre-established comes across as if they haven't heard the OG voice actors attempt or even voices used in this very audiobook.

A character driven political novel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Story was fun. Sorry for being an engineer but a Custodian being killed by two Astarte was fine until the term microsecond was used. It is 3 orders of magnitude faster than the Astartes were moving in the best possible case. It would be like me fighting 2 people and standing still for 7 minutes waiting for a single strike to land. Was the Custodian doing a suduku?

Enjoyable but a few inconsistencies

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Then ending was very well done (no spoilers, find out yourself) Narration overall was great, still wish they had adopted on top of the chapter Narrators, a character specific one, as it threw you out at times with the same character done by different voices.

When is the next one ;)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
this is a awesome listen, over the two books gives so much information on the workings of terra and the guardians of the throne

awesome insight to terra

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
excellent story telling by the voice cast as well as being well written by the author. I enjoyed the glimpse into the silent sisters and custodes motivations and what makes them human or so far from it.

another great entry

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
While this was a great standalone novel by Wraight, I can’t help but feel a little let down by the sequel to one of my favourite 40k novels.

While the first book deals in a super epic narrative, this entry is a far more subdued, cloak and dagger like story that feels more in line with Wraight’s other amazing series ‘Vaults of Terra’.

I loved the political insights into the High Council of Terra and restructure of power after Gulliman leaves for Indomintus, but I really felt like I spent the second half of the book waiting for an epic climax that never fully materialised.

Still an amazing read with my favourite characters in the modern 40k timeline, will be getting the third installation for sure!

Not as strong or epic as the original, but still a powerful entry from Wraight.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Best book about the 41st millennium I've listened too so far. Brilliantly narrated and a story that twists and turns in unexpected directions.

Political Swamp

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What can I say, if you liked the first book you will love book 2. Also if you were a fan of the Vaults of Terra series you will like Watchers of the Throne, and vice versa.

The Voice Acting was superb again. Whoever is the creative director for the GW audiobooks division is well placed. They have great authors and pair them with great VAs.


5 Stars all around.

excellent sequel

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Intrigue and plot twists to keep tourheadspinning right the way through with a great climax!

Fantastic!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.